Neuroimmune crosstalk and its impact on cancer therapy and research

Abstract

Cancer is a major health problem as it is the first or second leading cause of death worldwide. The global cancer burden is expected to rise 47% relative to 2020 cancer incidence. Recently, the fields of neuroscience, neuroimmunology and oncology have elaborated the neuroimmune crosstalk role in tumor initiation, invasion, progression, and metastases. The nervous system exerts a broad impact on the tumor microenvironment by interacting with a complex network of cells such as stromal, endothelial, malignant cells and immune cells. This communication modulates cancer proliferation, invasion, metastasis, induce resistance to apoptosis and promote immune evasion. This paper has two aims, the first aim is to explain neuroimmune crosstalk in cancer, tumor innervation origin and peripheral nervous system, exosomes, and miRNA roles. The second aim is to elaborate neuroimmune crosstalk impact on cancer therapy and research highlighting various potential novel strategies such as use of immune checkpoint inhibitors and anti-neurogenic drugs as single agents, drug repurposing, miRNA-based and si-RNA-based therapies, tumor denervation, cellular therapies, and oncolytic virus therapy.